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March 6, 2007 


NATO, Afghan forces launch largest combined offensive
KABUL (AFP) -  NATO and Afghan forces Tuesday launched their biggest combined offensive, involving up to 5,500 troops, to bring security to the Taliban-plagued southern province of Helmand, the NATO force said.

The operation began at 5:00 am (0030 GMT) and at its peak would involve more than 4,500 NATO troops and close to 1,000 Afghan security force (ANSF) personnel, the International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.

"This is the largest multinational combined ANSF and ISAF operation launched to date and it signifies the beginning of a planned offensive to bring security to northern Helmand," said Major General Ton van Loon, ISAF commander in the south.

Western officials have hinted at an ISAF operation in response to threats by Taliban commanders of a "spring offensive" that they said would unleash a wave of suicide bombings.

The combined push, codenamed Operation Achilles, was launched at the request of the Afghan government, ISAF said.

It would focus on "improving security in areas where Taliban extremists, narco-traffickers and other elements are trying to destabilise the government of  Afghanistan," the statement said.

"We also intend to empower village elders to take charge of their communities as they have been doing so in other parts of southern Afghanistan, without the influence of Taliban extremists."

Officials have admitted that several districts in northern parts of Helmand province -- Afghanistan's top opium-producing area -- are out of government control.

The insurgents stormed the small town of Musa Qala a month ago and have refused to leave despite the killing of two of their commanders in precision air strikes by ISAF, and warnings from government that they should leave.

The rebels have also been engaging British forces around Kajaki dam, a major hydropower plant that the military wants to secure so that it can be repaired and put to work.

"Strategically, our goal is to enable the Afghan government to begin the Kajaki project," the statement said.

"ISAF and ANSF forces will continue to apply pressure to extremist forces and pursue reconstruction and development objectives until they are achieved," it added.
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Afghans Rally Against Civilian Deaths
March 6, 2007 -- RFE/RL -- Hundreds of Afghan students have rallied in the eastern city of Jalalabad to demand the withdrawal of foreign troops after two incidents claimed civilian lives, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported.

The protesters shouted slogans against the "invading forces" and chanted "Death to Americans!"

"Our demands are: one, our parliament must make serious decisions about such a bad incident and if it can't, it should resign; two, the people responsible for the incident should be brought to justice as soon as possible; three, innocent Afghans should not be tortured for any reason; four, if such an incident is repeated in future, we will continue our protest; five, as we see foreign troops fail in bringing security to Afghanistan, they should leave Afghanistan," one student told RFE/RL.

The protests come after Afghan officials on March 5 said a NATO air strike had killed nine civilians in Kapisa Province, north of Kabul.

That followed the deaths of 10 civilians on March 4 in a clash between U.S. troops and insurgents near Jalalabad.
(with material from AP, AFP)
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Taliban kidnap Briton, two Afghans
KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban said on Tuesday they had captured a Briton and two Afghans in the southern province of Helmand, a major drug producer, but gave no further details.

Some media reports said those kidnapped on Monday were journalists.
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Government checks reported kidnapping of Brit in Afghanistan
Tue Mar 6, 7:46 AM ET
LONDON (AFP) - The Foreign Office said Tuesday it was checking reports that the Islamist Taliban militia had kidnapped a British citizen in southern  Afghanistan.

"We have seen these reports. We're looking into them," a Foreign Office spokesman told AFP.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman added: "We are certainly not aware of any British soldier being kidnapped." Britain last year spearheaded a  NATO push into volatile southern Afghanistan.

Sky News and BBC television both reported that the Taliban, which is a resurgent force in Afghanistan since US forces toppled them from power in 2001, had kidnapped a British citizen in the troubled Helmand province.

Last week Britain announced it would deploy nearly 1,400 extra troops to southern Afghanistan, where the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is bracing for a Taliban spring offensive.

The extra forces would take the total number of British troops in Afghanistan from 6,300 to 7,700.
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Britain to deploy new bomb in Afghanistan
LONDON, March 5 (UPI) -- The British military is preparing to deploy a new heavy "smart bomb" in Afghanistan to combat Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents.

The Times of London reported it had learned the system can launch a heavyweight guided rocket through the front door of a house from a range of 44 miles. It can also fire 12 guided rockets at once, each guaranteed to hit within 6 feet of its target, the newspaper said.

The Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System fires GPS-guided rockets with 200-pound warheads and troops are training for its use. They will likely be deployed in June, defense officials said.

The largest armaments British troops in Afghanistan have now are light 105mm artillery pieces, which fire small 35-pound unguided shells.

Britain placed a $480 million order with U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin for the missile system, the newspaper said.
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US must investigate civilian Afghan deaths: rights group
Mon Mar 5, 9:08 PM ET
NEW YORK (AFP) - The United States should heed Afghan President Hamid Karzai's call to investigate the shooting deaths of nine civilians, including children, Human Rights Watch said Monday.

The organization also said that it is concerned that the US military is "attempting to control information about the March 4 incident" by confiscating and deleting photo and video images taken by reporters on the scene.

On Sunday, as many as 10 civilians died from US troop fire in the wake of a suicide bombing in eastern Nangarhar province.

Witnesses said that US troops fired on the civilians as the troops sped away from the attack, which itself did not cause any deaths, Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

"Suicide bombers in  Afghanistan regularly pose as civilians, but that doesn't give coalition forces carte blanche to respond with indiscriminate fire," Brad Adams, of the New York-based human rights watchdog, said in a statement.

"The fact that the insurgents violate the laws of war doesn't absolve the US and its allies of the need to observe them," Adams said.

HRW said eight to 16 people died in the incident, while Karzai's government put the toll at ten.

The groups also said US troops seized cameras belonging to a photojournalist and two local television camera operators and then deleted their images, an incident AFP also reported on Sunday. A media spokesman for the US-led coalition admitted some pictures of the scene may have been erased, AFP reported.

In a separate incident on Monday, in Kapisa province north of Kabul, US forces responded to an insurgent rocket attack with two 2,000-pound bombs, killing nine civilians, including five women and three children.

A US military spokesman faulted the insurgents for hiding among the civilian population.

"Insurgents shouldn't hide among civilians to protect themselves, but the fact remains that coalition forces need to take better precautions to prevent needless civilian deaths," Adams said.

HRW called for thorough investigations and disciplinary measures and prosecution as warranted.

Karzai ordered a probe into Sunday's attack and "strongly condemned the incident which took place due to a suicide attack on a coalition convoy and which prompted the coalition force firing on civilians that killed 10 people," his office said in a statement.
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Taliban have lost Afghan 'hearts and minds': US
Mon Mar 5, 6:57 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House said Monday that the Taliban had "already lost" the fight for Afghan "hearts and minds" ahead of what is expected to be a Spring offensive by the Islamist militia.

Spokesman Tony Snow also declined to comment in detail on an incident involving the US military in

Afghanistan that may have left as many as 10 Afghan civilians dead, saying "everything is under review."

"There's a real difference between the Taliban, which kills innocent as a matter of policy, and the United States, which abhors the death of any innocent," Snow told reporters.

"And, frankly, in the battle of hearts and minds, the Taliban already lost that. What they're trying to do, once again, is to use terror to impose their will -- and it's not going to happen," the spokesman said.

His comments came after an incident in eastern Nangarhar province, where US troops opened fire after an ambush. Afghan officials say 10 civilians were killed. The US-led coalition says eight died in the ambush and subsequent return fire, but has not admitted outright to causing civilian deaths.

Asked how the United States would prevent such incidents in the future, Snow replied: "If somebody tries to hold innocent civilians, put them in harm's way, it's very difficult to at all times avoid unfortunate circumstances."

"But, look, again, we're still studying it. So what you're asking me to do is to give you a detailed explanation of what happened and how one would fix it in the future, and I'm not in a position to do it," he said.
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US military defends erasing of Afghan ambush footage
Mon Mar 5, 2:52 PM ET
KABUL (AFP) - The US military in  Afghanistan Monday defended the erasing of media photographs and video after an incident which left up to 10 civilians dead, saying this was allowed in "extreme circumstances."

Photographers and cameramen working for international and Afghan media said soldiers deleted footage of a site in eastern Nangarhar province where US troops opened fire after an ambush.

Afghan officials say 10 civilians were killed. The US-led coalition says eight died in the ambush and subsequent return fire, but has not admitted outright to causing civilian deaths.

A media spokesman for the US-led coalition admitted some pictures of the scene may have been erased.

"Some of those facts may be accurate but there is some context that is due," Major William Mitchell told AFP.

The journalists had gone beyond a security perimeter and had been asked to remove their images to "protect the integrity of the investigation," he said, adding that the scene may have been altered before they arrived.

The concern had been that the "photographers would not accurately represent what the scene looked like immediately after the ambush," Mitchell said.

"In this case we give a lot of deference to the commanders at the site conducting the investigation," he said.

However, "we have reminded our forces in the area that only in extreme circumstances is this practice condoned," Mitchell added.

The  United Nations said it was trying to verify what happened.

In "general nobody should be allowed to interfere in journalists carrying out their lawful work," spokesman Adrian Edwards said.
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Afghanistan must punish women's rights abusers: UN
Mon Mar 5, 12:43 PM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan authorities must ensure that those who subject women to violence or sexual abuse are brought to justice, the rights chief at the  United Nations mission in Kabul said Monday.

"Around one in three women is battered or sexually abused in this country. Numerous women remain victims of forced marriages and of rapes committed by members of their community," Richard Bennett told reporters.

"Ending impunity is not a political act but an essential right for victims, in times of peace or in times of war."

Bennett said women's rights in  Afghanistan had made progress since the late 2001 fall of the harsh Taliban regime, which banned girls from going to school and women from working.

But he added that there was still much to do to stop the situation from deteriorating.

"The poverty and illiteracy of many Afghans, combined with traditional customs, are partly responsible for the difficulties in improving the condition of women," added outspoken female legislator Shukria Barakzai.
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Two "U.S. spies" killed in Pakistan
Mon Mar 5, 9:27 AM ET
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Suspected pro-Taliban militants shot dead two Pakistani tribesmen near the Afghan border after accusing them of being U.S. informers, government officials and witnesses said.

The bodies of the men, Qayyum Shamiri, 35, and Rakham Din, 40, were found in different places on Monday, dumped beside roads near Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan region which is a hotbed of Islamist support.

Security officials said both men had been shot and notes found with their bodies saying: "U.S. spies will have a similar fate."

Militants in North and South Waziristan have killed dozens of people they accused of supporting the Pakistani government or spying for U.S. forces in neighboring  Afghanistan.

Last Tuesday, militants beheaded an Afghan cleric in South Waziristan after accusing him of being a U.S. spy. The cleric had spoken out against militants in his sermons.

Many Taliban militants and foreign al Qaeda members fled into Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal regions after U.S.-led forces ousted the radical Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001.

Pakistani forces have tried to flush out the foreign militants and subdue their Pakistani allies, and hundreds of people have been killed.

The government later signed peace deals aimed at ending fighting and stopping militant infiltration into Afghanistan but critics say the deals have given the militants free rein and led to "Talibanisation" of the region.

The government of President Pervez Musharraf, a major ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, defends the deals, saying they have led to a reduction of violence in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, and dismisses concern about Talibanisation.
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Forces in Afghanistan Brace for Protests After US Forces Kill Civilians
Voice of America By Benjamin Sand Islamabad / 05 March 2007
U.S. and Afghan forces are bracing for a possible backlash after at least eight Afghan civilians were killed in a military operation in eastern Afghanistan Sunday. Correspondent Benjamin Sand has more from VOA's South Asia bureau in Islamabad.

U.S. military officials in Afghanistan say Sunday's deadly incident was sparked by a suicide bomb attack on an American Marine convoy - not far from the eastern city of Jalalabad.

The Marines say they opened fired after an explosives-packed vehicle rammed their convoy and militants attacked with machine guns.

Spokesman Major Chris Belcher says civilians were killed in the exchange.

"There are reports of death and injuries to Afghan nationals confirmed by Afghan and coalition authorities," Belcher says.

Local eyewitnesses say American soldiers fired indiscriminately into groups of Afghan cars and pedestrians as they tried to escape the area.

Protests erupted almost immediately in the region and troops are braced for angry demonstrations.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly denounced U.S. and coalition military action that harms civilians. It is a major concern for Afghans who have endured more than three decades of foreign invasion and civil unrest.

U.S. and NATO troops are in Afghanistan to provide security and fight a militant insurgency by the former Taleban - which was ousted from power in 2001 for helping al-Qaida terrorists.
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Afghanistan: Taliban Claims Control Of Another Helmand District
Karachi, 5 March (AKI) - by Syed Saleem Shahzad
At least 19 Afghan civilians have been killed over the past 24 hours in strikes and gunfire incidents by coalition forces in Afghanistan in response to militant attacks on NATO targets. Although NATO has said it is trying to reduce civilian casualties, the attacks look set to continue as the "spring offensive" materialises. Taliban commander Abdul Khaliq told Adnkronos International (AKI) that they have taken control of Nawzad district in Helmand province and prior to the recent attacks the Taliban distributed leaflets warning people to keep away from NATO installations or convoys.

In an interview with AKI, Taliban commander Abdul Khaliq said that with their recent seizure of the Nawzad district in the restive southern Afghan province of Helmand, their spring offensive had begun.

"There was a ceasefire in Nawzad district during the entire winter but we had taken control of all the villages and only the district headquarters was under the Karzai-backed administration, though it was also under siege by Taliban," Abdul Khaliq told AKI in a phone interview from Nawzad district. "Last Thursday, we just announced that we would break the ceasefire and walked in the headquarters without much of a fight," he said.

Over the weekend, the Afghan people were also warned by the militant group to be cautious and keep away from NATO installations.

Pamphlets were distributed all over Kandahar city by the Taliban in which people were warned to stay cautious as the Taliban would not spare any single movement of NATO troops on Afghan roads.

“We have acquired sophisticated weapons and now warn the people not to be within 100 meters on either side of any NATO installation or convoy because from now on everything will be immediate targets," the pamphlet written in Pashto said.

After the warning, came the attacks.

On Sunday, the young Taliban commander Qari Hazrat led an attack on the convoy of the British task force traveling between Sangin and Gereshk districts of Helmand, killing two British soldiers and wounding others.

Also on Sunday, a suicide attacker targeted a US marines' convoy just outside the city of Jalalabad, capital of eastern Nangarhar province, and the soldiers reportedly opened fire on civilians killing at least 10 people. Hundreds of Afghan men took to the streets to protest the incident but sources said that the province has so far been calm. President Hamid Karzai said that coalition forces had opened fire on the civilians and ordered an investigation into the incident.

In another incident Afghan officials said that at least nine Afghan civilians were killed overnight in Kapisa province, north of Kabul, in a strike carried out by NATO in response to an attack on a base there.

(Aki/Syed Saleem Shahzad)
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Singapore to send humanitarian, engineering teams to aid Afghan reconstruction
The Associated PressPublished: March 6, 2007
SINGAPORE: Singapore is preparing to send groups of army dentists and engineers to Afghanistan for three months as part of its contribution to international reconstruction efforts there, a Singapore cabinet minister said.

"Developments in Afghanistan have an impact on Singapore's security," Defense Minister Teo Chee Hean said in Parliament Monday, according to a speech distributed to the media.

Several members of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group detained in Singapore on suspicion of plotting attacks on western targets in the city-state had received their terrorist training in Afghanistan, he said.

"Terrorism operates without regard for national borders. Singapore is thus prepared to work together, within our means, with the some 40 other countries currently working in Afghanistan to build the institutions, infrastructure and services that will bring brighter prospects to the people of Afghanistan," he said.

The Singapore Armed Forces plans to send a five-member medical group which will set up a dental clinic in a hospital in Bamiyan province, Teo said. The team will bring specialized equipment and is expected to train Afghans to run the facility.

 Scores killed as earthquakes hit Indonesia NATO opens its largest-ever offensive in Afghanistan Citigroup makes $10.75 billion bid for Nikko CordialThe other group, a combat engineering crew of five, will work together with troops from New Zealand and Afghan contractors in bridge construction and repair work, also in Bamiyan, he said.
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More Afghan detainees to be released from Guantanamo
NEW YORK, Mar 6 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The US is in process of releasing more Afghan detainees from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Last week, the Pentagon had release two Afghan detainees.

A Defense Department spokesman told Pajhwok Afghan News that these Afghans are part of the 85 detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, who are now scheduled to be released in the coming months.

More Afghan detainees are being released, he said.

However, the spokesman refused to give the number of Afghan detainees who are now at the Guantanamo Bay and those who are being released in due course. We do not reveal these numbers, he said.

The officials said that at the peak of 770 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, some 100 were from Afghanistan. Most of these detainees have been returned home, he said.

Transfer of these detainees is according to a decision taken by the US President George Bush and the Afghanistan President, Hamid Karzai, in May 2005.

After the detainees are transferred, Afghanistan accepts their responsibility and ensures that they do not pose a continuing threat to Afghanistan, the Coalition, or the international community as a whole.
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US should recognise Pakistan’s interests in Afghanistan
By Khalid Hasan / Daily Times (Pakistan) / March 5, 2007
WASHINGTON: The Bush administration has been urged to recognise Pakistan’s legitimate interests in Afghanistan, such as its concerns about India, while remembering that it is an “article of faith” with Islamabad and part of its national security doctrine that the US is an “unreliable ally”.

In an extended testimony before the Senate Armed Service Committee on March 1, Barnett R Rubin of the Centre on International Cooperation, New York University, said the US should try to encourage greater transparency concerning Indian activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He suggested that as the US increased pressure on Pakistan through the military assistance package, it needed to develop a multilateral approach with China because Pakistan, when it felt that the US was not supporting it, had tended to turn to China. “It tried to do that after the US-India nuclear deal last year, and China turned it down. So it would be very important to have a joint approach with China and the other NATO members on this as well,” he added.

Rubin said Pakistan also needed assistance in building of its capacity to integrate the tribal areas into the country’s political and economic system. In the absence of integration, Pakistan had been unable to do anything about “safe havens” it was believed to provide to the Taliban and others, he said, adding that the US also needed to help Pakistan and Afghanistan address their bilateral relationship. “This is not a personal problem between Hamid Karzai and Gen Pervez Musharraf. There are a whole set of issues regarding the border, trade, transit, ethnic relations, that have gone un-addressed for 60 years, but we can no longer afford to allow them to go un-addressed.”

He said if the US did not deal with the sanctuary problem, it would not succeed in Afghanistan, but it should be remembered that this was a “region problem”. He said that it was not that Pakistan was pro-terrorist, pretending to be anti-terrorist. Islamabad perceives the situation in Afghanistan in terms of its interests. Pakistan and Afghanistan have had antagonistic relations since the beginning. Rubin said the infrastructure built with US and Saudi help during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, was still there and being used by the same people to fight against the US, “including the same people in the Pakistan military and intelligence on the ground level who have been involved in this thing for 20 years, and are still there on the ground level and have not changed, even if their orders have changed”. Rubin said Musharraf’s “political problem” was that he was the head of the “largest political party in Pakistan, which is the Pakistan military”.

“The Pakistani military is not a military organisation in the sense that we understand a military organisation. The Pakistan military is the ruling organisation in Pakistan. Musharraf is the president and he’s the chief of Army Staff, and he’s running for election this year ... the Pakistani military has always been aligned with Islamist parties in Pakistan. Currently, the party that was founded and supported by President Musharraf is in alliance with an openly pro-Taliban party in the provincial government of Balochistan. Now in anticipation of this year’s upcoming elections, Musharraf has been conducting discussions with other political parties. He has not been able to reach an agreement with any of the Pakistani civilian political parties that support our efforts in Afghanistan. So he is going to be running either by himself or de facto, again, in political alliance with those jihadi parties,” he added.

He said military rule in Pakistan was not the solution. “Military rule in Pakistan is the problem.” He said the way that Pakistan could build up a political base for to support the US effort was through a process of civilianisation of the political system. He said not all Pashtuns supported the Taliban. There are political parties that democracy in the area – parties that have always been in opposition to the military regime. He said that as such, they continued to be treated as opposition. “So until and as long as the military is in control, it will be difficult to change the political orientation of those regions,” he added.
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Afghanistan Open to Dialogue With Militants
SPIEGEL ONLINE - March 5, 2007, 12:56 PM
President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has said he is open to holding talks with moderate Taliban in order to secure peace in his country. But do the Islamists want to talk?

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said he is willing to hold talks with members of the Taliban in order to ensure stability in the country.

The Islamist militants have threatened to launch a spring offensive in Afghanistan in the coming weeks but Karzai is hoping to persuade pragmatics to split from the hardliners. He would even consider including Taliban in his government, he said. "I will embrace Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar for peace in Afghanistan. For stability in Afghanistan. But it is the Afghan people who should decide on the atrocities committed against the Afghan people," he told DER SPIEGEL.

According to Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the former Taliban foreign minister, negotiations have to take place at the highest level to prevent the war from spreading throughout the entire country. "The talks should include all the parties," he told DER SPIEGEL. Muttawakil, who also served as Mullah Omar's spokesman under the Taliban regime, surrendered to the Americans following the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. He now lives in Kabul and still maintains good ties with the Taliban leadership. Muttawakil and Karzai met last week in the presidential palace in the Afghan capital for a five-hour meeting to exchange ideas.

But it is unclear how affective this strategy might be. While Karzai is willing to consider all the options to try to prevent further bloodshed, the Americans refuse point blank to hold talks with the Taliban. And the feeling appears to be mutual. The Quetta Shura -- the Taliban council that control the Koran schools in the Pakistan city of Quetta and is thought to plan attacks in Afghanistan -- have ruled out any compromises with the "puppet government" in Kabul. The resurgent Taliban have used the tribal border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan as a stronghold to regroup.

Under pressure from Washington, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has launched a crack down on the Islamic militants in recent weeks. The former Taliban Defense Minister Mullah Obaidullah Akhund is reported to have been arrested in Pakistan last Monday, although this has not been confirmed by the Pakistani government. Five other militants are being held after a raid in Quetta this weekend, Reuters reports.

So far, Musharraf had been reluctant to launch a full assault on the Taliban leadership in Pakistan. He fears that the Islamist extremists, which up to now have been able to move relatively freely in the south-west of the country, could start to attack him and his regime. However, the visit by US Vice President Dick Cheney last week seems to have had some affect. Cheney asked Musharraf to do more to hunt down Taliban fighters on the border with Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, events in Afghanistan over the past few days have shown just how volatile the situation remains.

On Sunday, US troops killed 10 Afghan civilians and wounded another 35 after their convoy was hit by a suicide attack. Witnesses say the three humvees fired indiscriminately along a six-mile stretch of busy highway, hitting 14 to 15 vehicles, as they fled the attack. The incident prompted angry demonstrations in the region, just 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the Pakistan border, with some people shouting "Death to America! Death to Karzai!" President Karzai condemned the deaths on Monday and ordered an inquiry.

And on Monday a NATO airstrike hit a house during a firefight between Western troops and militants, killing nine Afghans who lived there. According to Afghan officials, militants had fired on a NATO base in Kapisa province just north of Kabul, and when soldiers returned fire they hit a home, killing a man five women and three boys.
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Lower house of Italy's parliament to vote on refinancing Afghan mission
The Associated Press Tuesday, March 6, 2007
ROME: The lower house of Italy's parliament was to vote Tuesday on a decree that would refinance the country's missions abroad, including one in Afghanistan that has created rifts in the government.

The Chamber of Deputies was expected to give the green light to the decree, which must then go to the Senate for final approval.

The vote comes a day after Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said Italy was worried following reports of the killing of Afghan civilians by U.S. forces.

"What happened creates a great upset in us," D'Alema said. "We must reflect on what to do."

Italy's mission in Afghanistan, involving 1,800 Italian troops, has split Premier Romano Prodi's center-left government because Communist coalition allies are against the troop deployment.

Prodi's forces have ample margin in the lower house, but they command only a razor-thin majority at the Senate, where any defections can lead to the ruling center-left losing a vote.

However, the conservative opposition led by Silvio Berlusconi, the media mogul and former premier, is expected to back the mission, ensuring passage of the legislation.
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Taliban website blocked as NATO offensive begins (Extra)
Mar 6, 2007, 9:59 GMT Monsters and Critics.com
Kabul - An internet site run by Taliban insurgents was blocked by providers in Pakistan Tuesday as NATO forces in Afghanistan launched a major spring offensive.

Visitors to the 'Voice of Jihad' site were informed that the customer's account had been suspended, possibly as the result of its distribution of illegal materials.

Contact details for a server in the Pakistani city of Peshawar were supplied at the blocked link.

The Taliban, Afghanistan's former radical Islamist rulers, have used the www.alemarah.org site to disseminate propaganda and claim responsibility for attacks on foreign and Afghan government forces.

NATO-led forces launched a major spring offensive Tuesday that will involve more than 5,500 NATO and Afghan troops against Taliban insurgents and other threats in the south of the country.
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Taleban spread wings in Pakistan
By M Ilyas Khan BBC News, North Waziristan Monday, 5 March 2007
As the spring sets in Taleban fighters in Pakistan's tribal region of Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan, are increasingly visible.

This bodes ill for the coalition forces in Afghanistan.

But it also highlights problems for Pakistan's government. It is faced with the prospect of the Taleban and their allies trying to consolidate their expansion eastwards inside North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

They have already carved out two safe havens in NWFP. They were able to do so after signing deals to the west in the tribal districts of South Waziristan and North Waziristan with the Pakistani government in 2004-05.

The deals have enabled different factions within the Taleban to start moving in significant numbers into the cities and towns of NWFP with the aim of overwhelming the local administration. This is an area that has been historically under much closer control of central government than the tribal border areas.

Last year, the militants' gradual incursions into the district of Tank, neighbouring South Waziristan, led to a total collapse of the civil administration in the district.

The police there have abandoned four out of five major police posts, and the gates of the police stations remain closed. They have also asked some nine bank branches in the town of Tank to arrange for their own security.

While the courts still function, the task of dispute settlement has passed into the hands of the Taleban groups operating in the area.

The Taleban also dominate the entire countryside further north around Bannu and the neighbouring district of Lakki Marwat.

In the capital of NWFP, Peshawar, schools belonging to international chains such as Bloomsfield and Beacon House had to shut down for four days at the end of last month when threats of attacks were issued by militants.

"We thought the militants wanted to fight the foreign troops in Afghanistan, but they seem to be hitting back at us," says Bahramand Jan, media secretary to the NWFP chief minister.

The question is, why has this Taleban intrusion into Pakistani territory gone unchallenged?

Incapacitated

Some in NWFP say the Pakistani military establishment has deliberately allowed the Taleban to expand their area of influence.

This, they say, provides the government with the argument that the Taleban phenomenon is a spontaneous development which is difficult to control in Pakistan as well as in Afghanistan.

NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Orakzai seemed to be arguing this way when he told journalists last month that the Taleban movement was "developing into some sort of a nationalist movement, a sort of liberation war against coalition forces".

But senior administration officials in Peshawar say the government is not colluding with Taleban.

Instead, they say, the government simply lacks the capacity to counter an increasingly aggressive Taleban force both on the border with Afghanistan, and in the provincially-administered Frontier Regions (FRs), those areas that separate the border tribal regions from NWFP.

"The police force is inadequately equipped in terms of manpower, logistics and weaponry, rendering the NWFP cities vulnerable," says Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi, chief secretary of NWFP.

This vulnerability arises from a power vacuum in the FR areas where security is traditionally provided by the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary, drawn from the tribes.

"Two-thirds of this force is deployed outside of the FR areas, leaving very little force to secure these areas," says Malik Naveed, the commandant of the Frontier Constabulary.

The Frontier Corps, another paramilitary force comprising tribesmen but with officers drawn from the army, is largely tied up inside the two Waziristan districts.

Military casualties

And in the Waziristans, it seems, the military are often not prepared to take on the militants.

One Taleban fighter in Miranshah in North Waziristan told the BBC that Taleban fighters crossing over into Afghanistan often take a rest at border posts manned by the army and the Frontier Corps.

Some officials concede that confronting Taleban fighters at these posts could lead to armed hostilities which the government troops would be unable to control.

More than 700 Pakistani troops have been killed in confrontations with the militants since 2003 when the army moved into the tribal border areas, over which central government had until then exercised only nominal control.

Officials say that such high military casualties forced the government to sign peace deals with the Waziristan tribes.

But far from achieving peace in the tribal areas or in Afghanistan, it seems these deals now threaten peace in Pakistan itself.
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Etisalat Academy to provide training for 200 Etisalat Afghanistan staff
Etisalat Academy has extended its services to assess and train team leaders and managers from Etisalat Afghanistan.
United Arab Emirates: PRESS RELEASE
This is part of the Academy's 2007 strategic plan for assisting in training and developing employees' competency from regional organizations and corporations. 32 candidates from Etisalat Afghanistan, the first batch of 200 candidates, visited the Etisalat Academy to commence assessment using the most advanced strategies and techniques in competency measuring.

The training course spans over a period of 3 months and aims to build and develop the technical and behavioral skills of the participating candidates. The training will cover subjects such as sales, marketing, and customer service. Also, they will undergo telecommunications training for Next Generation Network technology. This is inline with Etisalat Afghanistan's services soon to launch in May, where Etisalat has invested $300 million.

Dr. Doaa Fares, General Manager, Etisalat Academy, said: "We are always proud of our excellence and leadership in the training and development of cadres in various local and regional business sectors. From this perspective comes our role as a training institution and pioneers in building and developing competencies for various companies and institutions in the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf Region and the Middle East. The training held for Etisalat Afghanistan, is in conjunction with our intensive training of 800 Etisalat cadres in Egypt."

Through the training workshops, the Academy will be able to view and asses the current status of the competency of the team leaders, and will be able to determine the procedures needed to develop them. Etisalat Academy consultants will be dedicated to Etisalat Afghanistan staff throughout the period of the training.

The staff will reside at the Etisalat Academy Hostel, where they will enjoy all the facilities available such as the sports and recreation complex and the Academy's library with full access to the wireless internet (I-zone).
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Upper House condemns senator's home search by ISAF
KABUL, Mar 4 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Meshrano Jirga (upper house of the parliament) on Sunday condemned search of home of a senator from Kabul by foreign forces, terming it as against the law.

A statement issued by the House said NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces and police searched illegally house of Senator Muhammad Afzal Ahmadzai two days back in Khak-i-Jabar district of Kabul.

It strongly condemned the action, calling it against Afghanistan's law.

We strongly condemn this action and call upon relevant government officials to give us full explanations about the incident, said the statement.

Ahmadzai himself told Pajhwok Afghan News that foreign troops accompanied by local police entered his home Friday afternoon and searched it, but found nothing. He lamented that foreign forces were always misguided by wrong intellgence, causing lack of confidence of people over the government.

He said no provincial or local officials, like Kabul governor and police chief, were informed about the search operation in advance. However, chief of the crime branch of the Kabul police Alishah Paktiwal was with the ISAF forces.
Makia Monir
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Envoy rejects Afghan claims 
By TARIQ KHONJI Gulf Daily News
PAKISTAN'S envoy to Bahrain has categorically denied claims by Afghanistan that his country is sheltering Taliban forces. Pakistani Ambassador Iftikhar Hussain Kazmi said that the accusations were an attempt by the Afghans to draw attention away from their own shortcomings.

"The problems of Afghanistan mainly lie inside their country. The failure of the attempts at national reconciliation is at the heart of the violence and conflict," he said.

"Taliban are operating all over Afghanistan. Pakistan is the victim of the conflicts in Afghanistan. Pakistan still provides shelter to over three million Afghan refugees."

Mr Kazmi said that Pakistan placed 80,000 troops in the area to counter Taliban and Al Qaeda activity.

"We must emphasise that it is not just Pakistan's responsibility to prevent movement by Taliban across the border," he said.

"If any of the Taliban leaders are moving across the border, the international security assistance force, Nato and Afghan forces have equal responsibility to check and interdict them."

Mr Kazmi said a large-scale plan for economic projects was needed, along with action to raise the standard of local security forces in areas of Afghanistan where there is trouble and conflict.

"Pakistan has committed $300 million (BD113m) for reconstruction in Afghanistan. Projects worth close to $110m (BD41m) have already been completed," he said.
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Mayor and two other officials detained
PUL-I-ALAM, March 4 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Mayor and two other officials of the central Logar province were detained, following an order from the office of the Attorney General.

Sayed Kazim Kazimi, an official in the Attorney Generals office told Pajhwok Afghan News that the three people have been arrested on charges of embezzlement and violation of law.

He added that Mayor Mohammad Hashim Hussainkhil has allegedly distributed plots of land to his relatives and occupied people's land with force. Kazimi said a customs oficial, Mohammad Farooq, and Abdul Wakil Mahmood, a municipality official have also been arrested under charges of bribery. According to Kazimi, another 12 government officials have either been sacked or detained so far in Logar.

Qudratullah Azizi, the chief of the Crime branch of Logar police, told Pajhwok Afghan News the accused have been arrested and the mayor has been taken to Kabul for legal proceedings.
Shahpur Arab
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Defence Minister leaves for Jordan
KABUL, March 04 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Afghan Minister of Defence, General Abdul Rahim Wardak, left for Jordan on Sunday, to meet Afghan military commandoes who are currently under training with the Jordanian Army.

Major General Zahir Azimi, Defence Ministry spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News that Wardak will meet King Abdullah of Jordan and military officials.

100 Afghan National Army (ANA), soldiers have been in Jordan for two months on commando training.

The aforementioned troops are part of 5000 ANA soldiers, who are to receive three months military training in a foreign country.

Defence Ministry officials said the training for all 5000 soldiers would be completed simultaneously with the training of another 70,000 ANA soldiers in Afghanistan. There are currently over 43,000 soldiers present in the ANA, and the targetted figure of 70,000 is expected to be achieved by end 2010.

According to the Defence Ministry, the commando troops will be used under emergency conditions and in situations where regular army personnel may not be able to operate.
Ahmad Khalid Moahid
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US disappointed on slow progress of Peace Jirga
NEW YORK, Mar 4 (Pajhwok Afghan News): As Afghanistan and Pakistan are moving at a snails pace to remove bottlenecks to convene a regional Peace Jirga, the United States has expressed its disappointment over its slow progress.

It was last September that the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, and his Pakistani counterpart, Pervez Musharraf, at a meeting convened in Washington by the US President, George Bush, had decided to call a regional Peace Jirga of leaders from both the countries.

There is some disappointment there (in the US Government) that it (the Peace Jirga) has not been held so far, a senior State Department official told Pajhwok Afghan News.

At the same time, he acknowledged that there is significant logistical challenge in putting all these things together in order to convene the Jirga. There is absence of Pakistan and Afghan official presence in these areas. They need to develop the relationship with the local tribal leaders, he said.

We are trying to get the process move. We are encouraging them, the official said, hoping that the process would now be accelerated by leaders of both the countries. 

It is only recently that the two countries initiated steps to remove the bottlenecks in convening the Peace Jirga. The two countries have constituted their respective Jirga commissions. An Afghan delegation had visited Pakistan early February at their invitation to discuss the various issues related to it.

He appreciated that both the countries have now initiated the process and come up with practical ideas. The extreme climatic conditions too had a role to play in this delay, he said hoping that with the onset of spring, the move would gain pace and the Peace Jirga would soon see the light of the day.

Terming the Peace Jirga as crucial to bringing peace and development across the Afghan-Pakistan border, the State Department official said: We are eager to have the first Peace Jirga that produces results and spells out developmental priorities.

It is based on the recommendations of the regional Peace Jirga that the United States-led international community and Afghanistan and Pakistan governments would go in for large scale developmental activities in the border areas of both countries to generate employment and bring economic prosperity to the people of the region, which would ultimately result in bringing lasting peace.

 We want from them, what they need, the official said. As tribal leaders on both sides of border share same language and culture, it is argued a meeting between them would help identify the problems and spell out developmental priorities.

The $11.6 billion aid to Afghanistan announced by the US has separate provisions for several millions for the developmental activities in this region, the official said.
Lalit K. Jha
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Duty-free export production zones on Afghan-Pak border
NEW YORK, Mar 4 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The troublesome region on both sides of the Afghan-Pak border, which is considered to be major source of Taliban resurgence, is now the focus of an ambitious US economic reconstruction plan.

The plan proposes to designate several areas in these tough mountainous regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan as the Reconstruction Opportunity Zone or ROZ. Anything produced in these designated zones would be eligible for duty-free export to the US.

This, proponents of the plan argue, would create jobs on a large scale for the local people, bring massive investment and thus help change the economic face of the region. A legislation on ROZ is expected to be tabled in the Congress soon, as this would require permission from the lawmakers.

Businesses of this area would have the advantage to export their products to the US at a much lower price than other producers as they would be exempted to pay any duty, a US Government official told Pajhwok Afghan News.

This is expected to attract a large number of businesses and industrialists to set up their production units in these designated areas so as to export their products to the US duty-free.  Not only businesses from Afghanistan and Pakistan, but also multinational companies could be attracted to set their production units here due to the advantages of ROZs.

Said to be a win-win concept, this would also give advantage to the US as it would be receiving products at a cheaper rate and in the long run, a successful ROZs in this area would provide them with an alternative to China, on whom the US relies so much these days for manufacturing products.

It is for these reasons that the concept of ROZ, which had small beginning some time last year, has now caught the attention of the White House. With President, George Bush, himself monitoring the policies, it is soon likely to be shifted to the White House from the US Trade Representative USTR and State Department.

Moving on fact track, the USTR and State Department recently concluded a pre-feasibility study on creation of ROZs. The feasibility study was carried out by the USAID. The report has now been submitted to the Afghanistan Government for their view, Khaleda Atta, Commercial Attache at Afghan Embassy in the US told Pajhwok Afghan News.

An Afghan delegation recently visited Jordons Qualified Industrial Zone, whose concept is similar to that of ROZ, so that they can have a first-hand assessment of the US proposal.

The Pakistan Government too has been briefed on the issue. Officials said a team of USTR officials also met members of the US-Pakistan Business Council late last month on the US initiative. The briefing was carried out by Assistant USTR for South Asia Doug Hartwick, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Textiles and Apparel Matt Priest and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Trade Promotion and Policy Chris Moore.

Officials said the concept of ROZ has a huge potential in changing the face of this tribal region, which has so far remained untouched from the developments of rest part of the world.
Lalit K. Jha
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